Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
Scribner (2020), Edition: Reprint, 176 pages
Description
"The award-winning, bestselling French novel by Philippe Besson--"the French Brokeback Mountain" (Elle)--about an affair between two teenage boys in 1984 France, translated with subtle beauty and haunting lyricism by the iconic and internationally acclaimed actress/writer Molly Ringwald. We drive at high speed along back roads, through woods, vineyards, and oat fields. The bike smells like gasoline and makes a lot of noise, and sometimes I'm frightened when the wheels slip on the gravel on the dirt road, but the only thing that matters is that I'm holding on to him, that I'm holding on to him outside. Just outside a hotel in Bordeaux, Philippe chances upon a young man who bears a striking resemblance to his first love. What follows is a look back at the relationship he's never forgotten, a hidden affair with a gorgeous boy named Thomas during their last year of high school. Without ever acknowledging they know each other in the halls, they steal time to meet in secret, carrying on a passionate, world-altering affair. Dazzlingly rendered in English by Ringwald in her first-ever translation, Besson's powerfully moving coming-of-age story captures the eroticism and tenderness of first love--and the heartbreaking passage of time"--… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member Charlotte_Kinzie
This wasn't quite what I expected. It's basically novella length which is fine because Besson's writing style is very descriptive and poetic. But, it wasn't a story I felt "unfamiliar" with. I'm not sure what I was expecting... but it wasn't this.
It's a sweet story... very sad. But I have to say I
Definitely, well-written seems like a good translation! Just not my thing maybe.
It's a sweet story... very sad. But I have to say I
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think there are better versions of this particular tale.Definitely, well-written seems like a good translation! Just not my thing maybe.
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LibraryThing member Charlotte_Kinzie
This wasn't quite what I expected. It's basically novella length which is fine because Besson's writing style is very descriptive and poetic. But, it wasn't a story I felt "unfamiliar" with. I'm not sure what I was expecting... but it wasn't this.
It's a sweet story... very sad. But I have to say I
Definitely, well-written seems like a good translation! Just not my thing maybe.
It's a sweet story... very sad. But I have to say I
Show More
think there are better versions of this particular tale.Definitely, well-written seems like a good translation! Just not my thing maybe.
Show Less
LibraryThing member evano
A beautifully straightforward coming-of-age story. A teen romance taking place in suburban France against the backdrop of the music and culture of the mid-80s, and culminating in a tragedy today, so many years later. That it was a love story of two teenage boys didn't bother me; any teen romance is
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about the joy and excitement of discovery, exploration, and the possibilities inherent in our bodies. Wonder expressed with skin, mouths, hands and all those pleasure receptors we are blessed with. Despite my being on the hetero end of the spectrum, I found the sex scenes recognizable and erotic and always in furtherance of this story of boys becoming men. And then men aging, fading, succeeding, failing, forgetting remembering, dying... Molly Ringwald, herself an icon of the 80s, does a fantastic job with Besson's novel, bringing it to English with simple, sparkling language that carries the story along like a blown-glass bubble created in a different era, carrying its simple atmosphere into today. Show Less
LibraryThing member Paul-the-well-read
Few books rise head and shoulders above others in their class. These books touch us in vulnerable places, impact us strongly as we read them and stay in our minds and hearts long after we’ve read them They become the books we will keep in our personal libraries, will re-read and re-read again and
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we feel and experience rather than just read. The authors of such books do more than simply convey the message of the printed page, they imbue their writing with the unmistakable breath of their own experience. While pain and heartbreak are the most likely subjects of such books as they are in Lie with Me, authors writing on any subject can convey feeling and emotion with such clarity and strength that the reader cannot help but feel that he, too, has shared an emotional experience. Poetry is best suited for these experiences, but fiction, non-fiction and autobiography can also be written well enough to transport readers to feelings and places in their hearts they rarely reveal to others.
As a child, I first felt this kind of empathic connection to an author when I read Old Yeller by Fred Gibson. Over the many years since I’ve read it, I have never doubted that the story was a genuine portrayal of love for a pet and pain experienced when the pet came to its tragic end. The storyline may have been fictional, but the emotions bleeding through the pages were genuine.
Lie with Me may be auto-biographical as a genre or may be better described as fiction, but there can be no doubt that it is honest. It bares the soul and the pain of its author as few books ever do.
The story of a gay adolescent/man unable to accept his orientation, the damage his living lie does to others, the extension of his lie in his adult relationship, the impact on the man who truly loved him as well as on himself transcends the details of the plot and storyline. This is the kind of book that will recall in all gay readers their own struggles with self-acceptance, but more importantly, it cannot help but impact heterosexual readers with a greater empathy for those who do not share their sexual orientation.
Toni Morrison’s books often operate in much the same way. They cause African American readers to recall their own struggles and the injustices they suffer throughout their lives. But they also build empathy, compassion and understanding in what readers of what racism is, does and continues to do in a society that would rather handle the issues of racism by pretending they don’t exist.
In spite of what the 1969 Stonewall episode did for toleration, acceptance and empathy for LGBTQ adults, children are still born into homes and a society which subtly, unintentionally and unconsciously presents the world through a heterosexual lens and life expectation. Children born into this environment will face the kind of struggle and denial portrayed in Besson’s book no matter how accepting society may or may not have become, just as Black Americans will be born into and grow up in a world where “whiteness” is presented as being the norm. The world greatly needs the strength of books like Lie with Me to help it understand the unintended consequences of its cultural expectations.
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LibraryThing member Narshkite
A beautiful novella/memoir. Besson insists it is fiction, but the novella itself is replete with references to the main character denying his novels are actually memoir and each time he is totally lying. If this is fiction, Besson is a master. He created a beautiful and utterly believable story.
The
The
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book covers the first love of our narrator who is named, like the "novelist", Philippe, and his reintroduction to that lover's story 20+ years after he left. Besson magically captures the ephemeral beauty of first love, which in spite of that ephemerality, remains with us forever because it is the only love we ever have before heartbreak makes us too cautious to be fully vulnerable. The story's end, many years later reached by coincidence or fate breaks the heart into smaller bits. There is nothing surprising or revolutionary here. Rather it is a relatable tale, filled with feelings most of us have had, told in the simplest yet most lyrical way. It is simply lovely. I listened to the audio, and thought the narrator, Jacques Roy, was excellent. Show Less
LibraryThing member jwhenderson
A short, but powerful tale of youthful romance and the view from later in life when contrasting ambitions and pathways combine to intensify the emotional tenor of this beautiful narrative. There is young desire, longing for the other and quiet regret when the paths of the young lovers diverge. The
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prose is spare yet it evokes all the feelings that the protagonist, Phillipe, experiences as he shares intimacies with another boy named Thomas. I could not put down this stunning novel of young desire. Show Less
LibraryThing member rosienotrose
Lie With Me by Philippe Besson, translated by Molly Ringwald (yes THAT Molly Ringwald)
I want you to take a moment and remember your first love. The feeling in your chest on catching sight of them. The sound of their voice, their laughter. The way your hand would tingle after their touch. The hours
Now, let me introduce you to Lie With Me by Philippe Besson
While being interviewed in a hotel lobby for his latest novel, Philippe glimpses a young man who bears a striking resemblance to his first love. Without thinking he follows the man and takes us back to the story of his first love, Thomas.
This book captures the intensity and uncertainty of young love. The fumbling emotions and jealousy made more pointed by the difficulties of being gay. Philippe and Thomas's relationship is intense and all-consuming, and Besson does a fantastic job of bringing this to life. The story does not shy away from the fear, confusion, and isolation that many queer individuals experience, and a reminder of the challenges that many people still face today.
The novel reads like memoir but we are made to wonder how authentic the material is. From the outset the author himself declares that as a writer he tends towards embellishing and misremembering. The English title of the book (different from the French "Arrête avec tes mensonges," which means "Stop with your lies.") has so many meaning - romantic, invitational, and colluding – but it doesn’t take away from the story itself.
Lie with Me is a moving exploration of queer love, desire, and heartbreak. It is about how first love can define our lives and is a memory that you will carry with you for the rest of your life.
I want you to take a moment and remember your first love. The feeling in your chest on catching sight of them. The sound of their voice, their laughter. The way your hand would tingle after their touch. The hours
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spent daydreaming of what your future would be like. How it felt that there could not possibly be a love stronger than this. How still to this day you think of them. Wonder about them. About what might have been. Now, let me introduce you to Lie With Me by Philippe Besson
While being interviewed in a hotel lobby for his latest novel, Philippe glimpses a young man who bears a striking resemblance to his first love. Without thinking he follows the man and takes us back to the story of his first love, Thomas.
This book captures the intensity and uncertainty of young love. The fumbling emotions and jealousy made more pointed by the difficulties of being gay. Philippe and Thomas's relationship is intense and all-consuming, and Besson does a fantastic job of bringing this to life. The story does not shy away from the fear, confusion, and isolation that many queer individuals experience, and a reminder of the challenges that many people still face today.
The novel reads like memoir but we are made to wonder how authentic the material is. From the outset the author himself declares that as a writer he tends towards embellishing and misremembering. The English title of the book (different from the French "Arrête avec tes mensonges," which means "Stop with your lies.") has so many meaning - romantic, invitational, and colluding – but it doesn’t take away from the story itself.
Lie with Me is a moving exploration of queer love, desire, and heartbreak. It is about how first love can define our lives and is a memory that you will carry with you for the rest of your life.
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LibraryThing member robfwalter
I adored this book. There's a veracity to the prose (I think it's an excellent translation) and the plot that made it very compelling and moving. It is also beautifully lyrical and suffused with a sense of nostalgia or melancholy. I guess that could maybe be described as emotionally manipulative,
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but given that it's just a novella and given the sense of truth to it, I didn't find it so. It is a classic of gay literature and one I'll probably return to in later years. Show Less
LibraryThing member KJC__
I doubt it's a memoir, everything is too poetically convenient. Too many coincidences. I believe it's called autofiction and quite a popular genre in France.
LibraryThing member imjustmea
I was at the metro station waiting for my bus. I was only a few steps away from the bus stop and I still missed the bus because I got so caught up reading the last few pages of the book.
LibraryThing member therebelprince
On reflection, this was a beautiful short read. I came very close to tears welling in my eyes, which for me is the equivalent of effusive weeping for regular schmucks. Ringwald's translation is sensitive and elegantly pitched; the whole affair is draped in a kind of fragile grace.
(My only
(My only
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complaint is both minimal and mundane, and directed at the translator, the one and only Ms. Molly Ringwald. I think we need to retire the use of the word "sex" as a noun describing the genitals. It's a little too... Lawrence Durrell.) Show Less
Awards
Publishing Triangle Awards (Finalist — Ferro-Grumley Award for LGBTQ Fiction — 2020)
ALA Over the Rainbow Book List (Longlist — Fiction — 2020)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2017
Physical description
8 inches
ISBN
1501197886 / 9781501197888